These are the main #FinTech investors in Europe.
The Hottest FinTech Investors in Europe to Back the Next Big Breakthrough in FinTech
Big breaks across industries don’t usually happen without VCs backing them. Success stories in most cases have co-authors and in 2016, VCs are the ones to provide a financial fuel to bright entrepreneurs and ideas with a high disruptive potential.
While some VCs are operating across regions, some have a particular geographical focus. Since Europe is one of the world’s hubs of innovation, the UK and other countries in Europe and in the Nordic region have their dedicated investors. The US is also rich on FinTech-focused VCs that have a keen interest in discovering the next big thing in FinTech.
Aside from VCs, there are also FinTech accelerators accountable for success stories, both in the US and in Europe.
This time, let’s look at some of the hottest FinTech investors in Europe that also invest in other regions along with European venture allocations.
BBVA Ventures
Description: BBVA Ventures provides funding and expertise to promising technology companies disrupting financial services. The firm works with the entrepreneurs and co-investors in the US and EU, thereby becoming a long-term partner in their success.
Stage/size of investments: Early-stage venture to later-stage venture investments
Segments: FinTech, financial services
Portfolio of payments companies: Prosper, DocuSign, Simple, Radius, Coinbase, SumUp, Personal Capital, Ribbit Capital
Santander InnoVentures
Description: The company launched its $100-million fund in July 2014 to get closer to the wave of disruptive innovation in the FinTech space. Santander InnoVentures aims to support the digital revolution to make sure its customers around the world benefit from the latest know-how and innovations across the banking group’s geographies.
Stage/size of investments: Small companies and startups
Segments: FinTech exclusive
Portfolio: iZettle, MyCheck, Ripple, Kabbage, Cyanogen
Anthemis Group
Description: Anthemis Group is the venture investment and advisory firm at the center of a vibrant ecosystem of startups and financial institutions dedicated to reinventing financial services for the digital world. The firm boasts of being committed investors, thoughtful advisors, active conveners and dedicated problem solvers who share a passion for technology and a belief in the transformative power of digital financial services.
Stage/size of investments: Seed, early-stage ventures and later-stage venture investments
Segments: Retail banking & consumer finance, business & corporate banking, payments, wealth & asset management, capital markets & trading, insurance & risk management, data, technology & infrastructure
Portfolio of payments companies: Moven, Simple, Vericash, Fidor Bank
Index Ventures
Description: Index Ventures backs the best and most ambitious entrepreneurs and help them make their ideas real and lasting. The entrepreneurs it teams up with were born to build their businesses—it is their life’s mission. Working side-by-side with these visionaries makes Index Ventures incredibly optimistic about the future. The transformative companies they’re building, include Dropbox, Etsy, Sonos, SoundCloud, Flipboard, King, BlaBlaCar, Squarespace, Just Eat, Lookout, Hortonworks, Nasty Gal, Pure Storage, Supercell, Criteo, Funding Circle and many others.
Stage/size of investments: Index invests in various multiple stages including seed, early-stage venture, later-stage venture and private equity investments.
Segments: Information technology, life sciences
Portfolio of payment companies: iZettle, Clinkle, TransferWise, Funding Circle, Xapo, Swipely, BitPay, iZettle, CrowdRise, Funding Circle
AXA Strategic Ventures
Description: AXA Strategic Ventures’ commitment to founders and teams is to enhance value and maximize impact, therefore enabling you to engage individuals, customers and businesses. The firm maintains long-term, strategic focus. In other words, AXA Strategic Ventures want to help you become real players in the sharing economy—when you succeed, they succeed.
Stage/size of investments: All stages
Segments: Alternative business models, big data, climate change, financial inclusion and health
SmartFin Capital
Description: SmartFin Capital is an anti-cyclical and long-term oriented investment vehicle managed by a strong team that combines financial, operational and entrepreneurial experience supporting its portfolio companies in their growth ambitions. The firm provides replacement and expansion capital to European companies that display the potential for significant value creation in fast-growing market segments in. SmartFin Capital believes in building successful companies rather than setting up financially engineered transactions. The firm also looks for opportunities where other investors hesitate to go, refusing pigeonholing that would limit our flexibility.
Stage/size of investments: Growth technology companies
Segments: FinTech
Portfolio: ANCOA, NG DATA, Divitel
Highland Capital Partners
Description: The firm partners with the most compelling entrepreneurs developing innovative technologies to disrupt massive markets. As early investors, Highland Capital Partners surrounds our entrepreneurs from the start with expertise and strategic guidance necessary to build the next generation of category-defining companies.
Stage/size of investments: All
Segments: Consumer technology, enterprise technology, bitcoin, mobile payments
Portfolio: Bitnet, LevelUp, WePay, etc.
Earlybird Venture Capital
Description: Venture capital is a product for entrepreneurs. Earlybird Venture Capital backs nonlinear companies that create network effects, shorten value-chains, drive new economies or improve people’s lives. The firm backs European companies that have a global profile, from a few hundred thousand up to $15M.
Stage/size of investments: All stages; investments ranging from €250K to €10M.
Segments: FinTech, e-commerce, software, media
Portfolio: Smava, Tapu.com, Traxpay
Orange Growth Capital
Description: Orange Growth Capital (“OGC”) is a financial technology investment firm founded in the fall of 2013. Its team consists of eight professionals and 25 industry advisers who operate from its offices in London and Amsterdam.
Stage/size of investments: All stages
Segments: FinTech
Portfolio: Salviol Global Analytics, Zopa, Moni, BUX, Knip
General Atlantic
Description: General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector-specific expertise, long-term investment horizon, and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great management and build exceptional businesses worldwide.
Stage/size of investments: Early-stage ventures, later-stage ventures and private equity investments
Segments: Financial services, business services, retail and consumer, healthcare, internet and technology
Portfolio of payments companies: Adyen, Avant, Klarna
TA Associates
Description: Founded in 1968, TA Associates is one of the oldest and largest growth private equity firms in the world. The firm invests in growing private companies in exciting industries, with the goal of helping management teams build their businesses into great companies. This mission has been at the heart of TA’s approach to investing, and its more than 450 current and former portfolio companies illustrate its commitment to provide steady support through the cycles of the global economy. With $18 billion raised since inception and over four decades of experience, TA offers its portfolio companies strategic guidance, global insight, M&A support, recruiting assistance, and a significant network of contacts, in addition to sound financial backing.
Segments: FinTech, technology, financial services, healthcare and consumer businesses, communications
Portfolio of payments companies: BATS Global Market, BluePay, BillDesk, Smart Stream, Yeepay.com, RGM Advisors
Summit Partners
Description: Summit Partners was founded in 1984 with a commitment to find and partner with exceptional entrepreneurs to help them accelerate their growth and achieve dramatic results. Since then, Summit has become the investment partner of choice for many of the best growth companies in the world. The firm has grown to a team of more than 90 investment professionals, led by 24 managing directors whose tenures average more than 14 years with Summit. The company has the capital and team to support your growth initiatives.
Stage/size of investments: Flexible investment approach offering growth equity, venture capital and fixed income ranging between $5 million and more than $500 million.
Segments: Financial technology, FinTech, healthcare, internet & e-commerce, consumer, educational, software, communications, electronics, life sciences
Portfolio of payments companies: 360T Group, Progressive, Ogone, Fleetcor
Accion
Description: Accion is a global nonprofit dedicated to building a financially inclusive world with economic opportunity for all, by giving people the financial tools they need to improve their lives. Accion is building the next generation of top-tier microfinance institutions, and over the last 50 years has helped create 64 such institutions in 32 countries on four continents that today reach millions of clients.
Stage/size of investments: Early-stage equity, quasi-equity financing and loan guarantees
Segments: FinTech, financial services
Portfolio of payments companies: Payclip, Coda, Neogrowth, Zoona, GKN Peru
Warburg Pincus
Description: At Warburg Pincus, private equity investing is its only business. Established more than 45 years ago, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $50 billion in more than 720 companies in more than 35 countries around the world. The firm has more than $35 billion in assets under management. Its active portfolio of more than 120 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography.
Stage/size of investments: Seed, early-stage venture, later-stage venture and private equity investments
Segments: Energy, financial services, healthcare and consumer, industrial and business services, real estate, technology, media and telecommunications
Portfolio of payments companies: Capital First, Santander Asset Management, China Huarong, Au Financiers
SBT Venture Capital
Description: SBT Venture Capital manages a FinTech VC fund investing in the most promising growth stage companies in the financial services industry. The firm brings a solid experience in the banking industry, an incredible network of financial services companies and related technology vendors. SBT’s main partner and investor is Sberbank, the largest commercial bank in Russia. The current focus is on early-stage growth companies that are generating revenue, in need of financial/intellectual capital and access to the right network in order to rapidly scale. SBT provides more than just finance, it fosters growth.
Stage/size of investments: Early-stage growth companies
Segments: FinTech, financial services, banking
Portfolio of payments companies: Advanced Merchant Payments (AMP) , eToro, IdentityMind Global™, Mobeewave, Sequent, Walkbase
Google Ventures
Description: Google Ventures provides seed-, venture-, and growth-stage funding to the most innovative and promising entrepreneurs across a variety of industries. Founded in 2009, Google Ventures has extensive entrepreneurial experience, deep technical knowledge, and expertise in building high growth, scalable products and companies. Among its 300 investments are Uber, Kabam, Flatiron Health, Cloudera, Homejoy and DocuSign. Google Ventures is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices in San Francisco, Boston, New York and London.
Stage/size of investments: Seed-, venture- and growth-stage funding
Segments: Life science, consumer, mobile, commerce, enterprise & data
Portfolio of payments companies: LedgerX, OnDeck, Ripple, LendUp, Upstart, Plaid, CircleUp
Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV)
Description: With over 20 years of experience backing market-leading technology companies in the Internet, business & financial services, infrastructure and software markets, TCV is uniquely positioned to provide long-term financial, strategic and operational support for today’s rapidly growing, innovative tech companies. Given its market focus, TCV has built deep domain expertise and a proprietary network across the technology landscape. This expertise provides significant value to its management teams.
Stage/size of investments: Early-stage venture, later-stage venture and private equity investments
Segments: Internet, business & financial services, infrastructure and software, FinTech
Portfolio of payments companies: Merkle, WorldRemit, Elevate, Think Finance, Trading Screen
Accel Partners
Description: Accel Partners has been committed to helping exceptional entrepreneurs build lasting, category-defining technology companies since 1983. Utilizing a focused, “prepared mind” approach to investing, the firm partners with businesses that show potential for significant long-term success in specific sectors. Emphasizing synergy in its portfolio enables the firm to offer the advantages of a cohesive, cooperative Accel community, including access to an extensive network of past and present entrepreneurs.
Stage/size of investments: Accel invests in companies from their genesis to growth. Its funding rounds include seed-, early-stage venture and later-stage ventures.
Segments: Technology companies, infrastructure, Internet & consumer services, mobile, software & cloud-enabled services
Portfolio of Payment Companies: Circle, Card Spring, Gumroad, Clinkle, Lenddo, Braintree, Nomi, Yodlee
Silver Lake
Description: Silver Lake is the global leader in technology investing, with over $26 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of approximately 100 investment and value creation professionals located around the world. Dedicated to the thesis that the dynamism and rapid pace of innovation in global technology demand intensely focused domain expertise, Silver Lake differentiates itself from generalist investment firms by devoting its full scope of talent and intellectual capital to the singular mission of investing in the world’s leading technology companies and tech-enabled businesses.
Stage/size of investments: Later-stage ventures, private equity and debt financing investments
Segments: FinTech, financial services, e-commerce, it & cloud computing, healthcare, mobile communications
Portfolio of payments companies: Alibaba Group, Cast & Crew, Global Blue, Interactive Data Corporation, Renovate America
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